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Pilot reported of multiple laser lights of red and green color entering the cockpit while in flight. Pilot determined that they were holiday decorations that illuminate houses with possibly a misdirected light not hitting the house. Pilot would like the general public educated that these types of lights might pose a danger to aircraft; pedestrians; and automobiles.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1319533 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201512 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | GSP.Airport |
| State Reference | SC |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Small Aircraft |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 333 Flight Crew Type 20 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
During cruise flight; I noticed a bright green light; like a laser; low and off my left side that really grabbed my attention. I glanced down to see it coming from just in front of a house and then it ceased within a second or two. While staring at the area to try to determine if someone was really standing in the yard shooting me with a laser; I noticed another laser hit me from a different house nearby in the same subdivision. After about two seconds of the laser; it ceased and was followed by another laser within two seconds. This time it was red instead of green and short lived in duration.after seeing the second set of lasers coming from in front of a house and being red and green; I immediately thought of what it could be. Rather than a person with a laser pointer; I have seen several houses lit up with a holiday decoration that projects red and green laser beams on the house. If pointed incorrectly some of the lasers in the array could project over the house and into a cockpit.while the effects of the lasers were not noticeably damaging to my eyesight; they were certainly a great distraction in the cockpit. These could be a danger to flight if a pilot were to be in a critical phase of flight; such as a gusty crosswind approach and were hit with several beams from a nearby house to the airport. These could also cause alarm for a pilot operating near or in the washington dc sfra as these look like the laser warning system employed there. As I am a fan of freedom and do not believe the devices should be banned for homeowners; there should be a strong public campaign to educate owners and potential buyers of these laser decoration products about the dangers that they can pose to not just aircraft; but to pedestrians and automobile drivers if these devices are misused or misaimed.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Pilot reported of multiple laser lights of red and green color entering the cockpit while in flight. Pilot determined that they were holiday decorations that illuminate houses with possibly a misdirected light not hitting the house. Pilot would like the general public educated that these types of lights might pose a danger to aircraft; pedestrians; and automobiles.
Narrative: During cruise flight; I noticed a bright green light; like a laser; low and off my left side that really grabbed my attention. I glanced down to see it coming from just in front of a house and then it ceased within a second or two. While staring at the area to try to determine if someone was really standing in the yard shooting me with a laser; I noticed another laser hit me from a different house nearby in the same subdivision. After about two seconds of the laser; it ceased and was followed by another laser within two seconds. This time it was red instead of green and short lived in duration.After seeing the second set of lasers coming from in front of a house and being red and green; I immediately thought of what it could be. Rather than a person with a laser pointer; I have seen several houses lit up with a holiday decoration that projects red and green laser beams on the house. If pointed incorrectly some of the lasers in the array could project over the house and into a cockpit.While the effects of the lasers were not noticeably damaging to my eyesight; they were certainly a great distraction in the cockpit. These could be a danger to flight if a pilot were to be in a critical phase of flight; such as a gusty crosswind approach and were hit with several beams from a nearby house to the airport. These could also cause alarm for a pilot operating near or in the Washington DC SFRA as these look like the laser warning system employed there. As I am a fan of freedom and do not believe the devices should be banned for homeowners; there should be a strong public campaign to educate owners and potential buyers of these laser decoration products about the dangers that they can pose to not just aircraft; but to pedestrians and automobile drivers if these devices are misused or misaimed.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.